With the Beavers (3-0) up 4-0, the Blue Hawks (0-4) called for a break in the action at the 19:13 mark in the first half. The game wasn’t always pretty, but MSU grinded its way to a 74-63 victory.

“I thought we settled for some difficult shots there,” MSU head coach Matt Murken said. “It allowed them to get back in the game.”

The Beavers controlled the glass all night, granting the Beavers control of the game. MSU held a 46-32 rebounding advantage over DSU.

However, MSU senior guard/forward Trevor Rothstein made knee-to-knee contact with a Blue Hawk, which forced Murken to pull Rothstein for the second half.

Jimmy Lafakis/MDN Minot State junior forward Cody Dwyer dunks the ball in the first half of Wednesday night's game against Dickinson State at the MSU Dome. Dwyer recorded a double-double, tallying 23 points and 11 rebounds.

“(Rothstein) kind of got beat up,” Murken said. “That kind of changed our rotation a little bit. We went with a four-guard lineup a lot of the time, which is something we haven’t done a lot this year. But we’re a little beat up, up front, so hopefully Trevor will be alright and bounce back soon from that.”

Although the Blue Hawks never fell too far behind, the Beavers owned a 38-31 lead at halftime. Junior forward Cody Dwyer’s double-double (career-high 23 points, 11 rebounds) gave MSU a boost.

“We’ve been harping on (rebounding) all season,” Dwyer said. “After every game, we have a rebounding chart to see if we did our job or not. That’s a really big deal in our program. Tonight, I feel that we did pretty well at that.”

The teams eventually knotted up the score at 47-47 early in the second half, but MSU applied pressure. The Blue Hawks didn’t have any responses to the Beavers’ swift scoring, falling behind 60-47 off a 13-0 MSU run.

“We can’t take days off,” Dwyer said. “We felt like we did on Monday and Tuesday. These Thursdays and Fridays, we’re going to have to be great as a team.”

A combination of DSU miscues and MSU free throws helped ice the game in the closing moments. The Beavers kept their momentum, sealing the 74-63 victory.

“It was a bit of a grind-it-out game,” MSU junior guard Max Cody said. “I didn’t think we played anywhere near our best. We missed a lot of shots and took a lot of bad shots, which are some things we need to improve on. At the end of the day, we got the win. Which is the main thing.”

The teams shot a combined 5-for-39 from three-point range. MSU shot 43% (15.8% 3PT) from the field, while DSU shot 41% (10% 3PT).

Cody contributed 9 points and a team-high six assists in 37 minutes. MSU senior guard Nibra White added 16 points on an efficient 7-for-11 shooting.

DSU senior guard Kenny Jackson led the Blue Hawks with 16 points.

MSU will host Montana State Billings (1-1) at 7 p.m. at the MSU Dome on Nov. 16.

“They’re going to be a tough team,” Cody said. “We played them last year at their place and we lost. We know a little bit about them. If we play how we did tonight, we will not win on Saturday.”

Jimmy Lafakis covers Minot High School sports and Class B high school sports. Follow him on Twitter @JJLII30.